J.K. Rowling - © J.K. ROWLING 2016 Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts Publishing rights © J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts characters, names and related indicia and trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. J.K. ROWLING’S WIZARDING WORLD is a trademark of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Harry Potter (book series) | Harry Potter Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Harry Potter (book series) Share This article is not part of the Harry Potter universe . This article covers a subject that is part of the real world, and thus should not be taken as a part of the Harry Potter universe. All seven books together in a special edition box set The Harry Potter books make up the popular series written by J. K. Rowling . The series spans seven books. The books have been made into movies by Warner Bros. Pictures with the last book split into two films. The books concern a wizard called Harry Potter and his journey through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry . The stories tell of him overcoming dangerous obstacles to defeat the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort who killed his parents when Harry was 15 months old.

The first book, Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone , was published in 1997 by Bloomsbury in London. The last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , sold more than 12 million copies in the U.S. Beginning on 6 October , 2015 , the entire series was presented in a fully-illustrated format, with over 100 illustrations per title, by Jim Kay . [1] The 7 books were also all reunited in one ebook the same year. Contents [ show ] Publishing The French edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ; Harry Potter à l'école des sorciers in English Harry Potter at the Wizarding School. It is said that J. K. Rowling sent her preliminary copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone to 12 publishers before it was accepted and published by Bloomsbury . The following is an incomplete list of publishers of the books all over the world.

India : Manjul Publishing House (Hindi and its dialects) Vietnam: Nhà xuất bản Trẻ Poland: Media Rodzina The Dutch version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Titles of the series The author published seven books in the Harry Potter series, as well as numerous complementary books. You can get all seven eBooks as one download on Pottermore with Harry Potter: The Complete Collection . A sequel to the original series, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was released July 31st, 2016. Original series The following is a list of the seven books in the Harry Potter Series. Each novel corresponds to a year-long period of time, usually in reference to Harry Potter 's year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry . Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ("Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the U.S) (UK release: 26/06/97; US release 9/01/98) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (UK & US releases: 21/07/07) Sequel This sequel takes place nineteen years after the events of the final book in the original series.

It is unknown weather this will be a stand alone novel or the start of a new series. Quidditch Through the Ages , a complementary novel to the series Complementary books Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay (19 November, 2016) Audiobook editions Since the inception of Harry Potter series, the stories have also been released as audiobooks. In the United Kingdom, the audiobooks were narrated by Stephen Fry , with Jim Dale handling the narration for the U.S. editions. The audiobooks were released in both CD and cassette formats, though the cassette editions are no longer in print due to the general lack of demand for titles in this format. For the earlier books in the series, there was generally a delay between the release of the print and audio editions. [3] The later editions generally saw the audio copies being released the same day as the print editions, likely a result of the growing popularity of the series. Most recently the books were made available in the first ever online audio editions through Pottermore via the Pottermore Shop and were also made available to libraries for lending.

Enhanced Ebooks In October 2015, Enhanced Editions of the 7 books were published exclusively on iBooks by Pottermore . Enhanced editions are said to include the full original text plus illustrations, animations and interactions as well as annotations written by J.K. Rowling to give you interesting insights into the world of Harry Potter. [4] An inspiration A LEGO set inspired by the series The Harry Potter Series inspired many other creations, such as: The series inspired an extensive line of LEGO playsets. A film empire, created by Warner Brothers : A LEGO Harry Potter video game (years 1-4) developed by TT Games was released in 2010. A sequel, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 , was released the following year. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter , a theme park land in Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure, opened in 2010 in America . An additional expansion, Diagon Alley, was opened in 2014. Numerous toy and doll sets. Behind the scenes Header artwork for each chapter of the Harry Potter books The first and last books of the Harry Potter books of the series came out ten years apart.

Coincidentally, the first and last movies of the series also came out ten years apart. There is a dinosaur that has been named Dracorex hogwartsia , with Hogwartsia being based on the name of Hogwarts , in honour of the series. The name translates to "Dragon King of Hogwarts." With the exception of the first and third books, there is always a chapter with the same name as the book. Also, with the exception of the third book, there is always at least one character that dies in the final chapter(s) of the books (although in the second book this is a basilisk , not a human character). Additionally, two books have characters named after them. They are: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince : Severus Snape In September 2012 , J. K. Rowling admitted to having rushed work on some of the Potter novels due to tight deadlines, and floated the possibility of someday releasing "director's cut" editions of the novels. [5] Brad Walrod served as the typesetter for the Harry Potter books from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire onwards.

In total, the Harry Potter series spanned 36 years, beginning in 1981 and ending in 2017. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter Series #1) by J. K. Rowling, Kazu Kibuishi, Mary GrandPre |, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® Chapter Two The Vanishing Glass Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day. "Up! Get up! Now!" Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again. "Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before. His aunt was back outside the door. "Are you up yet?" she demanded. "Nearly," said Harry. "Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon.

And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday." Harry groaned. "What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door. "Nothing, nothing . . ." Dudley's birthday - how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept. When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise - unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast. Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.

He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it. "In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions." Don't ask questions - that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. "Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting. About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut.

Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way - all over the place. Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel - Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig. Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell. "Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year." "Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy." "All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face.

Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over. Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?" Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty . . . thirty . . ." "Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia. "Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then." Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair. At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried. "Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs.

Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction. Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned. "Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again. "We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.

"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy." The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there - or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug. "What about what's-her-name, your friend - Yvonne?" "On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia. "You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer). Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon. "And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled. "I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening. "I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, ". . . and leave him in the car. . . ." "That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone. . . ." Dudley began to cry loudly.

In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had been years since he'd really cried - but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted. "Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him. "I . . . don't . . . want . . . him . . . t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms. Just then, the doorbell rang - "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically - and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.

Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside. "I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy - any funny business, anything at all - and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas." "I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly . . ." But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did. The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.

Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly. Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls). The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.

On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump. But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room. While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles. ". . . roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.

"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying." Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" Dudley and Piers sniggered. "I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream." But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon - they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas. It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.

Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last. After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can - but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.

Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils. "Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge. "Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on. "This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away. Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself - no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house. The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's. It winked. Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.

The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: "I get that all the time." "I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying." The snake nodded vigorously. "Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked. The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it. Boa Constrictor, Brazil. "Was it nice there?" The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil?" As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!" Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could. "Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor.

What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened - one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror. Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits. As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come. . . . Thanksss, amigo." The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. "But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?" The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.

But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?" Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go - cupboard - stay - no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy. Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food. He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.

This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house. When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look. At school, Harry had no one.

Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang. &copy1998; J. K. Rowling; reprinted with permission of Scholastic, Inc. JK Rowling: 10 facts about the writer - Telegraph Book news JK Rowling: 10 facts about the writer You may be a Harry Potter fanatic, but how much do you know about the author JK Rowling herself? Here are 10 facts about the author of the new book The Casual Vacancy. World famous Harry Potter author JK Rowling Photo: Television Stills < > By Emma-Victoria Farr 12:00AM BST 27 Sep 2012 1) The boy wizard Harry Potter and author JK Rowling share the same birthday: 31st July. 2) Rowling went from being unemployed and living on state benefits to becoming a multi-millionaire in five years. However, as a teenager she lived in a Grade II listed cottage in Gloucestershire, which she states was "not a particularly happy time in my life", due to her mother being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and a strained relationship with her father.

3) After the position of Head Girl at Wyedean School and College, she graduated from the University of Exeter with a BA in French and Classics, and then worked as a researcher for Amnesty International. 4) Rowling was diagnosed with clinical depression which she claims gave her inspiration to create the Dementors in the Potter series. She also suffers from insomnia which she puts down to working too late and reading things on which she has a strong opinion. 5) On a delayed train from Manchester to London in 1990, Rowling wrote her initial Potter ideas on a napkin. She typed her first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on a typewriter, often choosing to write in Edinburgh cafés, accompanied by baby daughter Jessica, now 19, named after Jessica Mitford, a heroine of Rowling's youth. Related Articles JK Rowling to sell £2 million home where Harry Potter books were written 20 Sep 2012 6) Rowling worked as an English teacher in Portugal during her brief marriage to television journalist Jorge Arantes, with whom she had Jessica.

Despite her current fortune, she has no desire to stop working as she believes it sets a good example to her children - she now has another son and daughter with second husband, anaesthetist Neil Murray. 7) According to a recent interview, JK Rowling admits to buying her wedding dress for her second marriage to Neil Murray in disguise, to avoid being recognised - such was the price of fame. 8) Rowling's ambiguous pen name using the initials 'JK' was a publishing suggestion to make her identity anonymous, for fear that a wizarding story penned by a woman might be unpopular. 'K' is the initial of her grandmother's name 'Kathleen', since Rowling had no middle names of her own. As a result, a girl called Francesca Gray wrote Rowling her first fan letter addressing her as: 'Dear Sir...' 9) Twelve publishing houses rejected her original Harry Potter manuscripts, but eventually small publisher Bloomsbury gave her a chance with a small advance. Little did anyone know it would become the bestselling book series in history. Her seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows broke sales records as the fastest-selling book ever.

10) Rowling was awarded the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2000 and as an eminent philanthropist has contributed money and support to notable charities such as Comic Relief, One Parent Families, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and Lumos, amongst others. Harry Potter | JK Rowling biography - Books by JK Rowling - Harry Potter author Biography Joanne Rowling – the girl who grew up to write Harry Potter. Joanne Rowling was born on 31st July 1965. Dianne, her younger sister, was born almost two years later and Joanne’s earliest childhood memory is of Dianne’s arrival. She, her sister and her parents lived in Winterbourne, Gloucestershire, until Joanne was nine, when the family moved to Tutshill, near Chepstow. Joanne grew up surrounded by books as her mum and dad loved reading – she says, ‘I lived for books … I was your basic common-or-garden bookworm, complete with freckles and National Health spectacles.’ From an early age Joanne wanted to be a writer. She wrote her first book at the age of six – a story about a rabbit called Rabbit.

Then when she was eleven she wrote a novel about seven cursed diamonds and the people who owned them. Joanne went to school at Wyedean Comprehensive School and then went on to study French and Classics at the University of Exeter. Her Classics studies would come in very handy later when she was thinking up all the spells in Harry Potter, some of which are based on Latin! J.K. Rowling first had the idea for Harry Potter while delayed on a train travelling from Manchester to London King’s Cross in 1990. Over the next five years, she began to plan out the seven books of the series. She wrote mostly in longhand and amassed a mountain of notes, many of which were on scraps of paper. She arrived in Edinburgh in 1993 with three chapters of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in her suitcase. By now she had a baby daughter, Jessica, but she continued to write in every spare moment she could find. When Joanne had finished the manuscript, she sent the first three chapters to a number of literary agents, one of whom wrote back asking to see the rest of it. She says that it was ‘the best letter I had ever received in my life’.

After finishing the first book and whilst training as a teacher, Harry Potter was accepted for publication by Bloomsbury. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone quickly became a bestseller on publication in 1997. As the book was translated into other languages, Harry Potter started spreading round the globe – and J.K. Rowling was soon receiving thousands of letters from fans. The Harry Potter books have since broken many records. In 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows became the fastest-selling book ever, selling 2.65 million in the first 24 hours in the UK. The Harry Potter series is now published in 78 languages, and over 450 million copies have been sold across the world. J.K. Rowling has also written three companion volumes in aid of charity: Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (in aid of Comic Relief ); and The Tales of Beedle the Bard (in aid of Lumos). In 2015 J.K.

Rowling's 2008 Harvard commencement speech was published under the title 'Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination' (in aid of Lumos and university financial aid at Harvard). In 2012, J.K. Rowling’s digital company Pottermore was launched, where fans can enjoy her new writing and immerse themselves deeper in the wizarding world. J.K. Rowling has written a film script inspired by Fantastic Beasts and Where to find Them , with the film due for release in Autumn 2016. In addition to J.K Rowling's collaboration on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts I & II, an original new story by J.K.Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne, she is also making her screenwriting debut with the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a further extension of the wizarding world, due for release in November 2016. J.K. Rowling has received many awards and honours, including an OBE for services to children’s literature, France’s Légion d’Honneur, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award. J. K.

Rowling | Harry Potter Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia [Source] "If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped to change. We do not need magic to transform the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already." —J.K. Rowling on her Harvard Commencement Speech in June 5, 2008 [1] Joanne "Jo" Rowling, OBE FRSL (born 31 July , 1965 in Yate ), commonly known as J.K. Rowling (pronunciation: rolling) is an English fiction writer and film producer. Rowling is most famous for authoring the Harry Potter series, which have gained international attention and have won multiple awards.

In February 2004 , Forbes magazine estimated her fortune as £576 million, making her the first person to become a US dollar billionaire by writing books; Rowling is also the wealthiest woman in the United Kingdom, well ahead of even Queen Elizabeth II . She is also the second richest female entertainer in the world, behind Oprah Winfrey. Contents [ show ] Early life Rowling was born in Yate, United Kingdom in 1965 , to Peter and Anne Rowling. Together with her mother, father, and younger sister Dianne, she moved to Winterbourne , Bristol and then to Tutshill near Chepstow . She attended secondary school at Wyedean Comprehensive , where she told stories to her fellow students. In 1990 , her 45-year-old mother succumbed to a decade-long battle with multiple sclerosis . This affected her very much. Growing up, her relationship with her father was strained, and as a result she has not spoken to him in recent years. She has also said that because of her lack of a proper father there are many father figures for Harry in her books. J.K.

Rowling in her childhood Rowling studied for a BA in French and Classics at the University of Exeter , which she says was a "bit of a shock" as she "was expecting to be amongst lots of similar people– thinking radical thoughts." Once she made friends with "some like-minded people" she says she began to enjoy herself. [2] She wrote a short essay titled "What was the Name of that Nymph Again? or Greek and Roman Studies Recalled" and published it in the university journal Pegasus, which recounts her time at Exeter studying for her BA in Classics. [3] After a year of study in Paris, Rowling moved to London to work as a researcher and bilingual secretary for Amnesty International. [4] During this period, she had the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry while she was on a four-hour delayed train trip between Manchester and London. When she had reached her destination, she already had in her head the characters and a good part of the plot for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone , which she began working on during her lunch hours. Rowling then moved to Porto , Portugal, to teach English as a foreign language.

While there she married Portuguese TV journalist Jorge Arantes on 16 October, 1992 . They had one child, Jessica Isabel Rowling Arantes (born 27 July , 1993 ), before their divorce in 1995 . In December of 1994 , she and her daughter moved to be near her sister in Edinburgh . Unemployed and living on state benefits, she completed her first novel, doing some of the work in an Edinburgh café. (There is a widely circulated rumour that she wrote in a local café to escape from her unheated flat — but according to the author this is false). Harry Potter and beyond Rowling's publisher, Bloomsbury , wanted to use initials on the cover of the Harry Potter books, suggesting that if they used an obviously female name, the target group of young boys might be reluctant to buy them. Since Rowling didn't have a middle name she chose to adopt her paternal grandmother's name, Kathleen (full name: Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling), for the middle initial. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was a huge success, and she has thus far published six sequels.

The sales made her a multi-millionaire, and in 2001, she purchased a luxurious 19th-century mansion, Killiechassie House, on the banks of the River Tay in Perthshire , Scotland, where she married her second husband, Dr Neil Murray, on 26 December 2001. The Harry Potter series runs seven volumes, one for each year Harry spends in school. The series is complete. The fifth book, titled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , was delayed by an unsuccessful plagiarism suit directed towards her by rival author Nancy Stouffer (see below). Rowling took some time off from writing at this point, because during the process of writing the fifth book she felt her workload was too heavy. She said that at one point she had considered breaking her arm to get out of writing, because the pressure on her was too much. After forcing her publishers to drop her deadline, she enjoyed three years of quiet writing, commenting that she spent some time working on something else that she might return to when she is finished with the Harry Potter series. The fifth book was released on 21 June 2003.

In late 2003, she was approached by television producer Russell T. Davies to contribute an episode to the British television science-fiction series Doctor Who . Although she was "amused by the suggestion", she turned the offer down, as she was busy working on the next novel in the Potter series. On 20 December 2004 she announced that the sixth Harry Potter book would be released on 16 July 2005. Rowling's appearance as herself on The Simpsons Rowling has also made a guest appearance as herself on the American cartoon show The Simpsons , in a special British-themed episode entitled " The Regina Monologues ". In June 5, 2008, J.K. Rowling was the keynote speaker for Harvard University Commencement. [5] The Harry Potter books Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies (6 September, 2016) The first two Harry Potter related books purport to be facsimiles of books mentioned in the novels. Fantastic Beasts is a textbook, while Quidditch is probably the most popular book in the Hogwarts Library .

They are complete with handwritten annotations and scribblings in the margins, and include introductions by Albus Dumbledore . All proceeds from them go to the UK Comic Relief charity. She has contributed money and support to many other charitable causes, especially research and treatment of multiple sclerosis, from which her mother died in 1990. By Rowling's own account, this death greatly affected her writing. Harry Potter films A film version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released in late 2001 and the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in 2002. Both were directed by American film director Chris Columbus . A darker atmosphere was adopted in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , attributed to the new director, Alfonso Cuarón . Rowling, who was a fan of Cuarón's work prior to the third film, has stated that the third film is her personal favourite. Rowling resisted suggestions by the filmmakers that the movies should be filmed in the United States or cast with American actors (only two Americans appear in the first film).

[7] She only reluctantly went along with changing Philosopher's Stone to Sorcerer's Stone, and limited it to the U.S. only. Rowling's insistence on British actors for the main roles resulted in Steven Spielberg passing on the opportunity to direct the series. Rowling assisted Steve Kloves in writing the scripts for the films, ensuring that his scripts do not contradict future books in the series. She says she had told him more about the later books than anybody else, but not everything. She has also said that she had told Alan Rickman and Robbie Coltrane certain secrets about their characters that had not yet been revealed, in order to inform their performances and avoid later inconsistencies. The Casual Vacancy (27 September 2012) Cormoran Strike series The Cuckoo's Calling (as Robert Galbraith) (18 April 2013) The Silkworm (as Robert Galbraith) (19 June 2014) Career of Evil (as Robert Galbraith) (20 October 2015) In December 2016, Rowling announced that she was working on two new novels - one written with the name J.K.

Rowling and another written with the name Robert Galbraith. She is unsure which one will be completed first and promised to update when she is. However, she also clarified that neither will be centred around Newt Scamander . [9] Other Non-fiction McNeil, Gil and Sarah Jane Brown|Brown, Sarah, editors (2002). Foreword to the anthology Magic. Bloomsbury. Brown, Gordon (2006). Introduction to "Ending Child Poverty" in Moving Britain Forward. Selected Speeches 1997–2006. Bloomsbury. Lifetime Achievement Award - 2008 [11] Commencement Speaker - Harvard University, U.S.A., 2008 [11] The French Legion of Honour Award J.K. Rowling at the French Legion of Honour Awards On 3 February 2009, the French president awarded Rowling the insignia of Chevalier of the Order of the Legion of Honour , France's highest honour.

Rowling believed until recent years that her great-grandfather Louis Volant had also received the award for bravery during the war when she dicovered the recipient was a different man with the same name in the programme Who Do You Think You Are?. The awarding ceremony was held at Palace Elysee in Paris, France. [11] [12] [13] H.C. Andersen Literature price - 19 October , 2010 in Odense, Denmark [14] Personal life On 26 December 2001, Rowling married Dr Neil Murray in a private ceremony at her home in the Perthshire village of Aberfeldy . On 23 March 2003, Rowling gave birth to her second child, a boy named David Gordon Rowling Murray, at the Simpson Centre for Reproductive Health at the New Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh. On 23 January 2005, Rowling's third child, also by Dr Murray, was born, fulfilling Rowling's lifelong wish to have three children. The baby girl was named Mackenzie Jean Rowling Murray.

Rowling is a member of the Church of Scotland , and has stated that she believes in God, although the Christian theme was not included in the books as it might have been easy to predict where the stories were going. [15] Behind the scenes In The Tales of Beedle the Bard (real) , J.K. Rowling writes an in-universe introduction to the stories, which ostensibly have been translated by Hermione Granger . As such, she establishes that a J. K. Rowling exists in the Potter-universe. In 2010, J. K. Rowling said that she can't guarantee she wouldn't return to the world of Harry Potter in the next 10 years or so, therefore she didn't want to say she never would; but she also said it was unlikely. However, during an interview with Oprah, she has given signs of an 8th book yet no official plans have been made. [16] (Though Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has been seen as an eighth book by some people). In June of 2011, Rowling announced Pottermore , an online interactive experience. When J.K.

Rowling received the Legion of Honour Award from Nicolas Sarkozy, she gave a speech in French in which she talks about her grandfather, Louis Volant. One of her drawings (of Hagrid , Dumbledore, and Professor McGonagall. In February 2012, Rowling announced the publication of an upcoming new book, targeted at adults, but no further information was given. The title was later revealed to be The Casual Vacancy . She also announced a complete revamp of her official website, slated to be launched sometime in the spring. In April 2012, she reopened her official website and announced that her new novel was to be titled The Casual Vacancy and would be published on September 27. The tone of the novel is described as being "blackly comic." [17] J. K. Rowling was sorted into Gryffindor on Pottermore. [18] However, before that, she once took an online Sorting Hat Quiz which sorted her into Hufflepuff . J. K. Rowling has stated that her Patronus would be a pine marten . [19] Though she recently did this again and got a heron.

In Harry Potter: Beyond the Page , Rowling revealed that she cannot remember a time when she wanted to be anything other than a writer. JK Rowling's drawing of Harry at the Dursleys' In July 2013, the Sunday Times newspaper revealed that the "debut" novel, The Cuckoo's Calling by "Robert Galbraith" (published in April 2013), was actually written by Rowling under a pseudonym (presumably a combination of the names of businessman Robert Rowling and economist J. K. Galbraith ). She is planning to write a second novel about this book's protagonist, Cormoran Strike. [20] A second Cormoran Strike novel, Silkworm, was published on 19 June 2014. In December 2013, Rowling auctioned a Harry Potter-themed charm bracelet which was designed based on her sketches. [21] Rowling said the Harry Potter series might not have happened if her mother hadn't died. "The books are what they are because she died ... because I loved her and she died." J.K. Rowling disapproved of Donald Trump's idea to ban every Muslims from entering the United States of America.

Following this, BBC Newsbeat published an article titled "Why people are calling American businessman Donald Trump Voldemort." However, Rowling disagreed as she felt that Voldemort is "nowhere near as bad". [22] J. K. Rowling revealed on Twitter, that she was sorted into the Thunderbird House for Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry . [23] She also would have wanted her wand to have phoenix feather made from walnut See also Writing - J.K. Rowling Writing Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World The first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was published in 1997 to immediate popular and critical acclaim. Six further best-selling books and eight blockbuster films followed. The books have been translated into 79 languages, won multiple awards, and sold more than 450 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling book series in history. In 2016, a new era of the Wizarding World was unveiled with the launch of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, an original screenplay by J.K. Rowling and a major film release from Warner Bros.

Pottermore , launched in 2012, is the digital heart of the Wizarding World, bringing fans news, features and articles as well as original content by J.K. Rowling. It is also the global digital publisher of Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World. Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them Robert Galbraith The Cormoran Strike series is classic contemporary crime fiction set in London, where war veteran turned private detective, Cormoran Strike, solves brutal murders with the help of his trusted assistant Robin Ellacott. Seeking to return to the beginning of a writing career in a new genre after Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling chose to write crime fiction under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith to be published without expectation or tainted critique. The first Cormoran Strike novel, The Cuckoo’s Calling, was published in 2013 to critical acclaim by both reviewers and fellow crime writers. It wasn’t long, however, before her cover was blown and Robert Galbraith’s true identity was unexpectedly revealed. Two more books have since followed: The Silkworm (2014) and Career of Evil (2015). J.K.

Rowling continues to write The Cormoran Strike series under the name of Robert Galbraith to maintain the distinction from her other writing. The books are currently being adapted for a major new television series for BBC One, produced by Brontë Film and Television. The Robert Galbraith website can be found here -

Question: Who wrote the Harry Potter books?
Answer: J. K. Rowling